History of Ibizaby Emily Kaufman The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)An Overview: VIII

Hello
and welcome to Spain’s Second Republic (1931-1936), the country’s final
democratic endeavour prior to the outbreak of Civil War. Before we go on
to explore the multiple difficulties the new government faced, let us
dwell for a moment on one of its most inspiring achievements: the
electoral legitimacy by which the republican dream became a fait
accompli. It has been reported in earlier instalments that repeated
attempts to overthrow the country’s former regimes inevitably ended in
failure. Ironically, it was this very failure that secured the ultimate
ideological victory, in the sense that the Republic was not imposed on
the Spanish people, but was freely elected by an overwhelming majority
of universal male suffrage. On the day of its proclamation, 14th
April, 1931, a leading newspaper, La Voz de Madrid, eulogized the
advent of the Republic with these words: “Spain
[is] themaster of her destiny … The
new regime has arrived pure and immaculate, untainted by blood or
tears.”

The Demise of the Monarchy

Readers may remember from last week that that the first ruling imposed
by the new government was the exile of Alfonso XIII from Spanish
Territory. The King’s official communiqué in response to this injunction
was pensive and wistful in tone, but also demonstrated certain myopia in
respect to the real political panorama in Spain as well as his
progressive devaluation within that panorama. On 14th April
he wrote:

“The elections held on Sunday clearly reveal to me that I do not have
the love of my people. My conscience tells me that this detour will not
be definitive, because I will always try to serve Spain, my only
interest being the public’s welfare, even at the most critical
junctures. A King can make mistakes and undoubtedly I have made my
share, but I well know that our Patria was generous before these faults
and bore no malice. I am the King of all Spaniards and am, myself, a
Spaniard. I could find abundant means by which to maintain my royal
prerogative in efficient check against those who challenge me; but, I
resolutely refrain from any course of action that would pit one
compatriot against another in fratricidal civil war. … So long as the
nation speaks, I will deliberately suspend the exercise of Royal Power,
recognizing [Spain] as the mistress of her destiny. …”

Despite the King’s allegations to the contrary, the truth is that he
would have found it impossible to maintain his position in the face of
his growing unpopularity. One significant point of evidence on this
score is that when Alfonso XIII sounded out General Sanjuro, head of the
Guardia Civil, as to his sentiments, the latter politely offered
to escort the royal family to the French border. The very same day, 14th
April, Alfonso XIII vacated the Palacio Real in Madrid, remaining
in exile until his death in 1941.

One
final observation on the King’s farewell message begs for attention. It
cannot be overlooked that, although Alfonso XIII did not know how to
guide his country during its critical transition from obsolete ways to
modernity, his concern as to the possibility of a ‘fratricidal civil
war’ turned out to be a chilling prophecy of Spain’s imminent fate. The
King, though fallen, knew his people well.

Unity Unravels

It
was not the monarchical figure, however, who would serve as the catalyst
for war. A common enemy often unites un-kindred spirits, and such was
the case in Spain at the fall of the monarchy. Two main currents of
thought which had come together in the fight against Alfonso XIII - but
which were, in fact, diametrically opposed - quickly re-polarized into
warring factions as soon as the brunt of their mutual antagonism was
removed. Before the end of 1931, internal conflict, the bane of Spanish
political life, had flared up again. The forces in question were
fundamentally those of leftists against rightists, these terms being
defined by the degree of social change advocated by the wide spectrum of
parties that vied for power.

The
Second Republic lived out its short life amid the quick sands of
political change. Alliances and counter-alliances were made and broken
with mercurial speed. Over the course of five years, some parties
migrated from one end of the political spectrum to the other; while
other parties possessed such a curious blend of ideologies that they
occupied several points on the spectrum simultaneously. General Sanjuro,
for example, a seemingly staunch defender of the Republic at its outset,
attempted a coup only 17 months after its inception. More than twenty
different political parties and labour unions comprised the Republic’s
splintered parliament, though to explore them in any depth is beyond the
scope of this page.

The Great Depression Settles Over Spain

What
can be said is that the greatest obstacle to the Republic’s success was
not, as many imagine, political instability, but the devastating effects
of the worldwide economic crisis. In his retrospective book, Causes
of the War in Spain (1986), Manuel Azaña, one of the Republic’s
outstanding figures and twice its president, analyzed the unfortunate
circumstances under which the Republic began its trajectory:

“The Republic began in the throes of crisis. The paralysis of business,
customs barriers, the restriction of exterior commerce … These were -
not the monarchists’ complots nor the anarchists’ riots - the formidable
difficulties which blocked the path of the nascent Republic and
undermined its success. There is no better propaganda than prosperity.
For a newly instated regime, already battling in the political terrain,
an economic crisis can be mortal. The State had to’ intervene’ - if not
to find a definitive solution, which was hardly possible while the
crisis reduced the [ world’s] most powerful nations - in order to
deal with the most urgent issues. All of the State’s interventions in
economic conflicts were wrongly publicized as the advance of a
threatening control state.”

Closing

Next
week we will go on to explore the conflictive agrarian reform, one of
the major causes of dissention during the Republic, as well as the
powerful array of right-wing forces that began to organize against the
new government.